Inns along Southwest Freeway ‘pretty much sold out’

Published 7:00 pm, Tuesday, September 6, 2005

As early as Friday afternoon, no vacancy had become a fairly common response of anyone answering the phones at motels and hotels along the Southwest Freeway and into the Greenway Plaza area.

Most of those manning the front desks had little to say beyond that.

Inundated with questions from the media, employees who are part of chains had already begun referring anything involving Hurricane Katrina to public relations officers based in places other than Houston. Most of those, in turn, said they were unable to comment on specific inns or the influx of patrons from the storm-ravaged states.

At the LaQuinta Inn, 1625 West Loop 610 South, employee Paul Ramos said about 30 of the hotels 173 rooms were occupied by customers who had fled Louisiana. He said customers were being charged the standard rate for rooms, but were being given free lunches and dinners. A spokeswoman for LaQuinta Inns, Teresa Ferguson of Dallas, confirmed the Houston market was pretty much sold out, but said special arrangements were being made to accommodate some displaced patrons.##M:(full story)##

We are not evicting our current guests, Ferguson said. If theyre out of money, if their credit card is maxed out, if they have money they just cant get to right now, were setting up payment plans for them.

In addition, she said, the inns in Houston are trying to help guests get in touch with their insurance companies, the Red Cross or the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Were getting a lot of phone calls offering to bring in clothes and meals to our guests, and were trying to hook those up together, she said.

Laurie Goldstein, a spokeswoman for Marriott, said she could not provide specific numbers, but Marriotts outlets such as Courtyard Houston, 2929 Westpark Drive, had seen a large influx of guests from Louisiana.

Were trying to be sensitive to their needs, Goldstein said. We have a company policy not to take advantage of opportunities like this. She said any special offers made to flood victims would be made by managers on a hotel-by-hotel basis.